New evidence cited at Lockerbie appeal

The Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing launched an appeal yesterday with his lawyers claiming there was fresh evidence to show he had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The hearing, before a panel of five Scottish judges at the specially constructed Scottish court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, was broadcast live across the globe on television and the internet in a historic first for a British court. It was adjourned for the day at lunchtime after the failure of the court's computer transcription system.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, 49, a former Libyan intelligence official, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years in January last year after being convicted of the murder of 270 people in the 1988 atrocity. His co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted after the three Scottish judges who heard the case ruled there was no evidence that he had helped plant the bomb.

All 259 people on board Pan Am 103, as well as 11 on the ground, were killed when the jet was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie on its way from Heathrow to New York.

Watched by members of Megrahi's family, who sat in the public benches near relatives of the victims, William Taylor QC, counsel for Megrahi, said he would be questioning the validity of parts of the trial judges' 82-page judgment and intended to bring fresh evidence which cast doubt on the conviction.

Mr Taylor said Megrahi was the victim of a miscarriage of justice and his conviction was not one that a "reasonable" jury could have reached in an ordinary trial if directed properly.

At the start of the hearing, the defence produced a nine-page submission detailing the grounds for the appeal, which focus on alleged mistakes in the court's verdict and new evidence from a security guard on duty at Heathrow on the day of the bombing.

The evidence, which was not available during the trial, concerns the testimony of security guard Ray Manly, who has claimed that a padlock was forced on a secure door in the baggage build-up area at Heathrow during the morning of December 21 1988, the day of the bombing.

"Had [this] evidence been available at the trial, it would have supported the body of evidence suggestive of the bomb having been infiltrated at Heathrow," the appeal submission stated. Megrahi's defence team has always insisted the suitcase containing the bomb was more likely to have been placed on board the plane at Heathrow, and not in Malta, as the prosecution in the trial had contended.

Alan Turnbull QC, for the crown, submitted at the start of yesterday's hearing that the new evidence was not sufficient to justify it being heard in the appeal. It is expected that legal arguments over the new evidence will be heard later in the week. The defence team will also focus on the evidence of Maltese shopowner Tony Gauci, who said he sold clothing which was packed around the bomb to a man who Megrahi "resembled a lot".

Mr Taylor told the court that with the exception of the new evidence, the grounds of appeal constituted criticisms of the findings of the judges in their written opinion, which was issued at the end of the original trial. He said he intended to show that the three judges had effectively misdirected themselves as jurors, leading to a miscarriage of justice.

He added that it was not the role of the appeal court to reconsider whether Megrahi was guilty or not and the judges should consider a retrial if they decided the conviction was unsafe.

Some relatives of those who died in the bombing returned to Camp Zeist to witness the appeal. Kathy Tedeschi of New Jersey, who was widowed by the tragedy, said: "I still feel sure Megrahi is guilty and I want to see him in jail in Scotland."

Before the hearing members of Megrahi's family stood holding placards outside the court. "We sympathise with the families of the victims and feel their pain. We pray for justice to reveal the truth," was the message on a banner carried by Megrahi's brother-in-law, Mohammed Magdami.

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